MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Recording Academy) - Screenwriter/director
Craig Brewer, legendary producing and songwriting team Isaac Hayes and
David Porter, multi-platinum artist Justin Timberlake, and the first African-American programmed radio outlet WDIA have been named as recipients of the
Memphis Chapter's The Recording Academy Honors 2005, it was announced today by The Recording Academy. The Recording Academy Honors Award was established to celebrate outstanding individuals whose work embodies excellence and integrity and who have improved the environment for the creative community.
The gala event - which attracts recording artists, key entertainment executives and community leaders - will be held Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Memphis Cook Convention Center . Proceeds from the dinner will benefit the MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund.
The evening will begin with a cocktail hour and silent auction offering one-of-a-kind music experience packages, various music memorabilia, original art and collectibles. The Honors dinner and show will follow and recognize the careers of the esteemed honorees with celebrity presenters and performers.
Tickets for The Recording Academy Honors gala are $75 for Academy members and $125 for non-members and are available by calling the Memphis Chapter office at 901.525.1340. Sponsorship packages and table sales are also available.
Honorees: True to the spirit of this city's indomitable, independent tradition, Memphis filmmaker Craig Brewer is a self-made man. Like Clarence Saunders, Sam Phillips, Elvis Presley, Fred Smith, and dozens more entrepreneurs and free thinkers who have helped put Memphis on the map, Brewer has succeeded where others might fear to even try. In 2000, this unknown screenwriter/director walked away with the Hollywood Film Festival's Best Digital Feature Award on the basis of his self-financed project The Poor And Hungry. Four years later, Brewer struck gold with his hometown rap epic Hustle & Flow, which won the Audience Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and was subsequently purchased by MTV Films. Now Brewer is applying his midas touch to the fictional story of a rural bluesman, played by actor Samuel L. Jackson. The Paramount Classics film, Black Snake Moan, is currently in production in Memphis with Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake, and David Banner.
They started out as just a couple of talented Memphis kids trying to make it in the local music scene. Fate brought them to Stax Records. David Porter got there first and became Stax's first staff songwriter. But it was when GRAMMY-winner Isaac Hayes joined the Stax family that the equation was complete: Hayes + Porter = Southern Soul's premier songwriting duo. They fueled the success of Stax and Atlantic Records with such classics as "Soul Man," "Hold On, I'm Coming," and "When Something is Wrong With My Baby." They also were producers and artists, turning out hit records under their own names. Hayes went on to become the first African-American composer to win the Oscar (for the timeless classic "Theme from Shaft" from Shaft ), while Porter became one of Memphis ' most prominent African-American entrepreneurs. Together they bear the distinction of having had national chart hits in five consecutive decades - a testimony to the enduring quality of their teamwork. Their recent induction into the International Songwriters Hall of Fame cements what their hometown has long known. As Rodgers & Hammerstein were to Broadway, the Gershwins to classic pop and Leiber & Stoller to early rock and roll, Hayes & Porter are to Memphis soul - simply the best there ever was.
GRAMMY-winning artist Justin Timberlake is simply the hottest pop music artist to come from the Mid-South since Elvis Presley. Born and raised in the Shelby Forest area north of Memphis, the platinum-selling artist, all of 24, has gone from one mega-success to another. At 14, Justin joined *NSYNC a five-member band based in Orlando, Fla. That group would go on to become one of the biggest acts of the past decade, inciting a Beatles-like hysteria in its legion of fans. In 2002, Timberlake went solo; proving that life after the group craze could be even better. His solo debut, Justified, racked up numerous awards, including two GRAMMYs and went on to sell nearly 7 million records worldwide. Not only is he a talented singer, dancer, composer, producer and actor, Timberlake is also a philanthropist who believes in fostering music education. In 2001, The Justin Timberlake Foundation began fulfilling its mission by providing grants to schools in need of instruments, sheet music, or staffing, as well as to non-profit organizations, which provide much needed after-school music programs.
WDIA is the first radio station in America that was programmed entirely by African-Americans for African-Americans. It empowered a huge segment of the population that was, until the late 1940s, largely unrecognized. The Goodwill Station, as it came to be known, was an unprecedented pioneer in community involvement, setting new standards of civic responsibility for the electronic media. Its annual Goodwill and Starlight Revues played to capacity crowds, and all the money raised was used for charitable activities. Drawing from talent throughout the Mid-South, WDIA was the opportunity unknown performers were praying for. Local talents such as Rufus Thomas, Dwight "Gatemouth" Moore, and Maurice "Hot Rod" Hulbert began as disc jockeys. Entertainers such as B.B. King and Bobby Blue Bland began the road to fame plugging their gigs at local clubs, while their music received airtime on WDIA. With WDIA's emergence, the broadcasting landscape for African-Americans changed forever.
Established in 1957, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., also known as The Recording Academy, is an organization of musicians, producers, engineers and recording professionals that is dedicated to improving the cultural condition and quality of life for music and its makers. Internationally known for the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy is responsible for groundbreaking professional development, cultural enrichment, advocacy, education and human services programs - including the creation of the national public education campaign What's The Download (www.WhatsTheDownload.com).
Event Contact:
Katherine Sage/Memphis Chapter of The Recording Academy/901.525.1340
Media Contacts:
Lourdes Lopez/The Recording Academy/310.392.3777
